Improvement in locks



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICEe RANDOLPH S. FOSTER, OF SING SING, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, CORNELIUS WALSH, AND JOHN C. NOBLES.

IMPROVEMENT IN LOCKS.

Specification forming part ofLetters Patent No. 39,007, dated June 23, 1853.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RANDOLPH S. FOSTER, of Sing Sing, in the county of W'estchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in mortise and other locks having the knob and locking bolts combined; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l represents in perspective the external appearance of the lock. Fig. 2 represents the interior of the lock. Fig. 3 represents the key. Fig. 4 represents the turninghub, and Fig.,5 represents the bit-plates.

Similar letters ot' reference, where they oc- A cur in the several figures, denote like parts of the lock in all the drawings.

This invention consists in so combining a turning hub having two cam-projections and bit-plates of special construction with two bolts as that the key may be made under certain circumstances to operate and control both bolts, or to operate the locking-bolt only, while the catch or bevel-ended bolt may be operated by the shank of the knobs, as will be explained in connection with the drawings and letters of reference thereon. The hub A has short journals a a, by which it is supported and truly turned in the side plates of the lock. It has two opposite sides of a portion of it cut away, as at b b, and carries a disk, c, having on its perimeter, diametrically opposite each other, two cam-projections, d d, and the hub has, moreover, formed in it key-slots e e, extending both ways from the center of the hub, so as to receive a double-bitted key, B, as shown in Fig. 3. The form of the bit-plates C and their number are shown at Fig. 5. They have four sets of openings, fg h t', those f to allow the stud or stump j of the lockingbolt D to pass into when properly arranged; those g for the purpose of allowing the bitplates to move or be moved up or down past the stump j; those h to admit (under a certain other arrangementof the bit-plates that will be hereinafter described) the locking-bolt and the knob-bolt to be both drawn into the lock, and those i for the hub and key-bits to turn and work in. The knob-bolt E is placed above the locking-bolt D, and in close proximity to it, and has upon its under side a recess, k, in which a projection, Z, on the locking-bolt works or moves. The knob-shank passes through the square opening m in the shank-tube n, and upon this tube n there is a lever or arm, o, that takes against a projection, p, on the knob-bolt E, for drawing in said bolt, it being shot out again when released by its spring q.

To operate the lock, proceed as follows: Presuining the bolts to be out, as represented in Figs. 1,2, insert the key,'and by turning it the hub A turns with it. The first movement of the hub and afterward of the key arranges the slotsf all in line, and the projection d on the disk c carries back the bolt D by taking into a recess, 2, therein. During this movement the stumpj passes into the slots f. When the bolt D is thus drawn into the lock, then the knob-bolt E is free to be used by the knobs on either side of the door. If, however, after the bolt D is drawn in, it is desirable to draw in also the bolt E, it is only necessary to continue the turning of the key, which brings its second set of bits into action, and arranges the slots h in line, and the second projection d coming around takes into the recess 3 in the bolt D, and carries it and the bolt E with it farther into the lock, both being then Within the lock-case. To shoot them out, reverse the key and make the two motions backward. When the bolt D is out, it locks out the bolt E by its projection l; but when the bolt D is drawn in, then the bolt E can be moved independently of it. Thus, under certain circum-y stances, the key controls both bolts, while under other circumstances the knob-bolt is independent of the key and its bolt proper. When the bit-plates are not controlled by the hub or key, they are thrown into their interlocking position by their springs r.

Having thus fully set forth the construction and operation of this lock, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Fatent, is-

In combination with the two bolts and double-bitted key, the hub and bit-plates arranged, constructed, and operating together substantially in the manner and for the pur- .pose herein described.

RANDOLPH S. FOSTER.V

Witnesses: f

STEPHEN- R. HAINEs, JOHN C. NoBLEs. 

